This follows a training by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) offered to twenty-five scientists from the region on how to identify, isolate, conserve, and improve poultry genetic resources being the key measures in protecting and enhancing the value of Africa’s indigenous chickens.

The avian reproductive biotechnology training at the National Animal Genetic Resource Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB) in Entebbe, Uganda, targeted experts in poultry biotechnology, breeding and conservation; managers of the regional African Union animal resources seed centres of excellence (AU-ARSCoEs), academics and poultry stakeholders.

Click to read more.

Here is your monthly curated pick of biobanking news, jobs, and events from across the globe. We hope you will find this enriching and valuable. Please do let us know your feedback on how we can improve this newsletter.

Upcoming Workshop

Join us for the upcoming one-day free workshop in Australia on October 17th (a day before ABNA conference) at Gold Coast (Queensland). Register now to attend demos & workshops on new features, product training, technical sessions and product roadmap.

Register Now

OpenSpecimen Highlights

• New Case Study: How the University of Cyprus Transformed its Biobank into a World-class Operation
• New Tutorial Video📽️: Specimen Processing Workflows

Fresh of the Biobanking Press

• Veterans Affairs develops its central biorepository
• IU Simon’s healthy breast tissue biobank to study breast cancer in men 
• VUMC to expand biorepository core with $52 million grant from NIH
• Australian National University scientists establish Canberra’s first brain cancer biobank
• Criobanca Marche Biobank launched to develop personalized medicine against rare diseases

Recent Research Papers

• The ORIGINS Project Biobank: A Collaborative Bio Resource for Investigating the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
• Development of a Plasmodium vivax biobank for functional ex vivo assays
• The Kids Heart BioBank—Supporting patient care and research into congenital heart disease
• Revolutionizing Cancer Research: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Biobanking 

Biobank Job Alerts

• Processing Lab Technician: Univ of California (San Francisco)
• Technician A: Columbia Univ (New York)
• Shipping and Receiving Coordinator: Azenta Life Sciences (USA)
• FMH Biobank Project Officer: Univ of Sydney
• Biobank Officer: Macquarie University (Australia)
• Biospecimen Laboratory Manager: Univ of Newcastle (Australia)
• Research Assistant (Biobanking): National Univ of Singapore

Upcoming Events

• OpenSpecimen Aus Workshop: Oct 17, Gold Coast, Queensland
• 2023 ABNA Conference: Oct 18-20, Gold Coast, Queensland
• ISBER 2023 Regional Meeting (Granada, Spain): Oct 24-25
• BioBANC Symposium II: University of Galway, Ireland – Sept 1
• Europe Biobank Week Roadshow23: Austria, Sept 27-28

Feedback / Contribute

How did you like this edition? What else would you like to see? Do you have a story or a news item for the Biobanking community? Please email us at contact@krishagni.com.

The month of July was very eventful on the OpenSpecimen front. We conducted two successful face-to-face community conferences (OSCON) in the U.K. and the U.S.A. 

We are now gearing up for the Australia Community Meet in Seaworld (Gold Coast) on Oct 17th. See registration details below.

OSCON Australia

Join us for the upcoming one-day free workshop in Australia on October 17th (a day before ABNA conference) at Gold Coast (Queensland). 

About the workshop

✅ One-day free event for OpenSpecimen current and prospective users.

✅ Includes demos & workshops on new features, product training, technical sessions and product roadmap.     

✅ Talks by adopters about their experiences and best practices.

✅ Network with users from other biobanks & exchange ideas.

Register Now

OpenSpecimen Highlights

• OSCON Australia: Oct 17, Gold Coast, Queensland
• OpenSpecimen v10.2 released
• New Tutorial Video📽️: How to share freezers with multiple collection protocols? 

Fresh of the Biobanking Press

• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to build research facility that will house Discover Together Biobank
• Azenta announces new biorepository in the Greater Boston area
• Biospecimens from the MURDOCK Study help accelerate heart failure discovery
• Queensland Univ. of Technology gets $3M to develop Australia’s first human microbiome biobank
• Viva – the largest Italian biobank – to store 5 M samples
• Stellenbosch University’s fully automated biorepository to store 3.5M biospecimens
• Biobank preserves genetic riches of the Galapagos

Recent Research Papers

• Creating a Surgical Biobank: Hershey Medical Center experience
• Rapid establishment of a biospecimen resource to study the global impact of COVID-19 Vaccines

Biobank Job Alerts

• Histology Technician II: Baylor College of Medicine
• Research Technologist II: University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ
• PS Clinical Research Coordinator: University of Utah
• Biomedical Analyst: Biobank Väst 
• Research Assistant (Biobanking): National Univ. of Singapore

Upcoming Events

• OpenSpecimen Aus Workshop: Oct 17, Gold Coast, Queensland
• 2023 ABNA Conference: Oct 18-20, Gold Coast, Queensland
• ISBER 2023 Regional Meeting (Granada, Spain): Oct 24-25
• BioBANC Symposium II: University of Galway, Ireland – Sept 1
• Europe Biobank Week Roadshow23: Austria, Sept 27-28

Feedback / Contribute

How did you like this edition? What else would you like to see? Do you have a story or a news item for the Biobanking community? Please email us at contact@krishagni.com.

New features include:

• Participant: Soft warnings (Draft mode)
• Query: Sequence for all specimens
• Specimen print tokens for PV properties
• Managing kits
• ‘Workflow Plugin’ enhancements

Refer to the release notes for more details.

The demo site is updated with the latest release if you want to try out the new features!

Contact support@krishagni.com if you are interested in upgrading the OpenSpecimen instance at your site.

Since genetic data is de-identified, it is often considered exempt from full IRB review, which is a US protocol to ensure studies meet ethical standards and institutional policies. And the broad number of research questions that can be explored with biobanks, along with the amount and types of data collected, has made these original protections to ensure truly informed consent insufficient.

Read this article where Purdue University’s Dr. Robbee Wedow discusses the challenges of ensuring informed consent among research participants when it’s becoming standard practice to collect data in genetic depositories to be available for future research.

Here is your monthly curated pick of biobanking news, jobs, and events from across the globe. We hope you will find this enriching and valuable. Please do let us know your feedback on how we can improve this newsletter.

OpenSpecimen Community Meet (OSCON) – 2023

We are pleased to announce this year’s OpenSpecimen Community Meet – OSCON23 in San Diego, USA. 

Dates: July 24-26th 

About OSCON:

✅ A two-day annual event for OpenSpecimen current and prospective users.

✅ Includes demos & workshops on new features, product training, technical sessions & product roadmap.

✅ Talks by adopters about their experiences and best practices.

✅ Network with users from other biobanks & exchange ideas.

Click here to register. 

OpenSpecimen Introductory Webinar

Are you looking for a LIMS for your biobank? If yes, this webinar is of interest to you.
We are conducting an introductory webinar to demonstrate the features and benefits of OpenSpecimen. 

Date/Time: 1st June | 9 AM PST | 12 PM EDT | 4 PM GMT

Click here to register. 

OpenSpecimen Highlights

• OpenSpecimen Community Meet (USA) – OSCON23: July 24 & 25
• Upcoming Webinar: Why is OpenSpecimen best suited for your biobank?
• New Case Study: Telethon Kids Manage ORIGINS Project using OpenSpecimen
• OpenSpecimen v10.1 released
• New Customer: Univ of California San Francisco Brain Tumor SPORE
• New Tutorial Video📽️: How to check out and check in specimens?

Fresh of the Biobanking Press

• Stanford CVI biobank invests iPSCs to further research
• Atlantic Health System biobank shares first human tissue specimen for research
• Markey biorepository (Uni. of Kentucky) accredited by CAP 
• Hubrecht Institute & UMC Utrecht develops head & neck cancer organoids biobank
• The Vigo biobank (Spain) reaches 40,000 sample milestone
• Fecal biobanking holds promises for colorectal cancer

Recent Research Papers

• HIV HGM biobank as a research platform for pediatric infectious diseases and COVID-19 pandemic
• Genetics of irritable bowel syndrome: shifting gear via biobank-scale studies
• Machine learning powers biobank-driven drug discovery

Biobank Job Alerts

• Research Technician: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 
• PS Study Coordinator: University of Utah 
• Technician, Research Laboratory C: University of Pennsylvania 
• SBA Biobank Project Manager: University of Sydney 
• Research Assistant (Biobanking): National University of Singapore

Upcoming Events

• OpenSpecimen Community Meet (USA) – OSCON23: July 24-25 
• OpenSpecimen Introductory Webinar: June 1st
• BBMRI-ERIC ELSI Dialogues Belgian Biobank Legislation Webinar: May 31st
• 2023 ABNA Conference (Sea World Resort, Gold Coast): Oct 18-20
• ISBER 2023 Regional Meeting (Granada, Spain): Oct 24-25

Feedback / Contribute

How did you like this edition? What else would you like to see? Do you have a story or a news item for the Biobanking community? Please email us at contact@krishagni.com.

New features include:

• New tokens at the visit level
• Specimen – Storage site-based specimen edit check access
• Specimen – Check in check out
• Specimen – Edit closed/disposed specimens
• Workflows Plugin: List of tasks, form and table view with validations, navigation to the previous step

Please refer to the release notes for more details.

The demo site is updated with the latest release if you want to try out the new features!

Contact support@krishagni.com if you are interested in upgrading the OpenSpecimen instance at your site.

Here is your monthly curated pick of biobanking news, jobs, and events from across the globe. We hope you will find this enriching and valuable. Please do let us know your feedback on how we can improve this newsletter.

OpenSpecimen Community Meet (OSCON) – 2023

We are pleased to announce this year’s OpenSpecimen Community Meet – OSCON23 in San Diego, USA. 

Dates: OSCON – July 24-25th | Open House – July 26th 

About OSCON:

✅ A two-day annual event for OpenSpecimen current and prospective users.

✅ Includes demos & workshops on new features, product training, technical sessions and product roadmap.

✅ Talks by adopters about their experiences and best practices.

✅ Network with users from other biobanks & exchange ideas.

Click here to register. 

OpenSpecimen Highlights

• OpenSpecimen Community Meet (USA)– OSCON23: July 24 & 25 
• ISBER Conference in Seattle, (Booth 102): May 3-6th
• Wizards of Biobanking Podcast 🎧: Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research
• New Tutorial Video📽️: How to upload consent files & surgical pathology reports?

Fresh of the Biobanking Press

• Penn State neuroscience biorepository advances neurological diseases research
• UMMC Biobank accredited by ANAB under ISO 20387 biobanking program
• SMHS biobank (Australia) enables better outcomes for critically ill patients
• Australia’s national brain cancer biobanking awarded a $6 million grant
• DwarnaBio – A national population-based biobank launched by Uni. of Malta
• Estonian Biobank joins DARWIN EU® network to support Europe’s public health

Recent Research Papers

• Impact of sample processing and storage conditions on RNA quality of fresh-frozen cancer tissues
• A rapid review on the value of biobanks containing genetic information

Biobank Job Alerts

• Clinical Research Scientist II – Texas A&M University Health Science Center
• PS Sr Laboratory Specialist –  The University of Utah
• Laboratory Coordinator I – Cancer Center – Uni. of Arizona Cancer Center
• Research Assistant – George Washington University
• ​Technical Officer – Biorepository – ​Uni. of New South Wales
• Research Assistant – Breast Cancer – Garvan Institute of Medical Research 

Upcoming Events

• OpenSpecimen Community Meet (USA) – OSCON23: July 24 & 25 
• ISBER 2023 Annual Meeting & Exhibits – May 3-6, 2023, Seattle, USA
• Biobank Sweden Webinar Series 2023

Feedback / Contribute

How did you like this edition? What else would you like to see? Do you have a story or a news item for the Biobanking community? Please email us at contact@krishagni.com.

The project brings together clinicians, researchers and healthcare specialists from institutions across the country to establish three essential interlinked platforms:

• The Australian Brain Cancer Registry
• The Registry Clinical Trials and Patient Enrollment Platform
• The establishment of a Biobanking and Organoid Platform

Click here to read more.